


Rainbow Laughter

by blooper_boy



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Humanstuck, I'll update tags as I add chapters, I'm not sorry, Sadstuck, mute!Feferi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-05-14
Packaged: 2017-11-23 07:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/619629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blooper_boy/pseuds/blooper_boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new family moves into the house next to Eridan, who is 6 at the time. They have a daughter, Feferi. He thinks she's cute, but life is complicated and stuff happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [themadwrldeffct](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=themadwrldeffct).



> OH LOOK! I'm actually posting stuff!  
> This is a secret santa fic to tumblr user themadwrldeffct (who, btw, is an awesome person). They requested erifef with mute!Feferi. So.... here that is. I swear I have more written, but I didn't have time to type it all out, so here's the first chapter, more to come soon! (Like, after I get my betas to swarm it.)

A month before you turned six, you got a new neighbor. They moved here from Fance, and talk sorta funny, and the first person you saw was a girl your age. Your first impression was that of a ghost surrounded by mist. Turns out it was a small girl with long blond hair. Then you saw her mother and decided that she was scary and even though she smiled at you when you went over with your brother to say hello, you thought she wanted to eat you. Next week, after getting completely moved in, she brought over a cake and you realized that obviously this woman is a saint and all you need to do is keep away from her mouth. 

***

For your sixth birthday, you dad invited the puffball over to your party. Her mother managed to capture all the hair and tie it into a rope thingie, which you learn very quickly not to pull on. Her name is ‘Fefwi.’ You ask her how she got her hair to be so long and poofy. She responds, “I tell it not to, but it wont stop. How did you get your hair to be such a pretty red?” You shrug, “It’s always been this color.” Fefwi proceeds to spend the majority of the party cooing over your fishtank and names all of the inhabitants. When you hear her laugh, you think it’s like a rainbow made into sound and you tackle her and try to tickle more of the sounds out of her. But then Dad picks you up and says that you shouldn’t knock down ladies, it makes them mad and you should ‘only play rough with them if you ask first.’ then he plops you back down and shoves you off to play with your other friends. But Sol sounds funny when he talks so you play with Vris, because you know she likes playing pirates with you. She manages to convince Sol to be the evil king so he can sound funny and make it be ‘in character’, and Fefwi is the sea princess that they’re rescuing from Sols evil clutches. You all decide, after hiding from the adults and playing like real kids, that you need to pester your parents into letting you have more playdates. 

***

Right before your seventh birthday, you’re in a car crash with Fef. Her sister is driving the two of you back home after going to the aquarium, and then you wake up to loud sounds and lights and people standing over you like you’re dead. It turns out that they were just trying to wake you up. You’ve been conscious the whole time, but you don’t remember anything. The doctors say it’s because of shock. All you know is that Fef isn’t waking up. 

Her sister is bleeding a lot from her forehead, but she just keeps crying and saying “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” over and over again. Everyone keeps telling her that it isn’t her fault, she couldn't have avoided the driver. But you know that it’s your fault as much as it is Meenah’s. You said you wanted to sit on the left side behind Meenah. If you had let Feferi sit on the left, then she would have been okay. You’re tough, you could take getting hit. You wonder if you’ll ever hear her laugh again.

***

A week later, she’s released from the hospital. Dad tells you that she got hurt, really bad. You could have told him that. But he says that Feferi can’t talk anymore.  
“What about singing?” you ask. “Why doesn’t she just sing everything?”  
“It’s not like that.” He pauses, and does that thing with his lips that you know means that he’s trying to figure out what words to use. “She got hurt inside, so she can’t make ANY sounds anymore. No talking or singing or humming-”  
“No laughing?”  
“Well,” he does the thing again, “I don’t know about that. I guess we’ll find that out when she tries to laugh.” 

Turns out that she can laugh, but it’s not the same. It sounds almost like she's choking. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feferi's PoV

You don’t know what you were expecting, but this is not it. This being a room full of mothers, college students, and what appears to be a small convoy from a retirement home. Now that you can’t talk, you need other ways to communicate. ASL was the obvious choice. Your sister & mother are here, mom having made multiple strained jokes about finally getting to spend time with both her daughters. Eridan and his brother are here too, although the more you see of his brother, the surer you are of two things.  
1) Chronus has the biggest crush on your sister ever.  
2) You hate him.  
Number 2 is due in in large part to number 1, but made very easy by the fact that he smells bad most of the time, and is a poopyface. 

The class starts with a quick introduction of the instructors, an enthusiastic woman named Ms. Harley, and her brother, who gets introduced as John. You wonder briefly why his sister introduced him and why he isn’t a Mr., but then Ms. Harley tells everyone that John is deaf, and has been since he was born. The whole time she’s talking, John’s hands are fluttering around and for some reason, you start to feel better for the first time since you opened your mouth only to have nothing come out. Mom used to sing you to sleep with lullabies about butterflies, which is what she says your full name, Ferfalla, means. Seeing John’s hands fly like this makes you feel safe somehow. Like everything will work out in the end. Like you can make butterfly hands too.

***

You take it back. This is stupid. Stupid and hard. Everyone else is having fun, practicing how to ask each others names and laughing, but you just feel silent and tongue-tied. Finger-tied? Whatever this is, you hate it. Eridan notices your cheeks starting to flush and excuses himself from one of the mothers, who looks happy and round and you notice that your nails are biting into your palms hard enough to hurt.  
“What’s wrong?”  
He’s quiet, but everything sounds so loud to your head now that you can’t be a part of the swirling mass of noise. You pull out the notebook and pencil that you’ve started carrying with you at all times.  
t)(is - Everyt)(ing  
You only barely resist the urge to scribble all over the page in frustration.  
He just looks at you, his face quizzical, but that same guilty look in his eyes that he’s had since it happened. You think he knows. But like you, he doesn’t know how to say it.  
You pause, trying to calm yourself down, and just manage to catch his aborted gesture towards your arm. He’s right, you’re not in the mood to be comforted. You’re in a mood to be royally pissy. You fight that feeling and write.  
Everyones )(aving fun  
T)(ey don’t have two be )(ere  
but t)(is-  
You flap your hands and manage to sign  
[ASL]  
is all i )(ave anymore!  
Eridan blushes and you hear him mumble, “You still have me.”  
Your mood lifts just a bit as you watch his face turn red.  
yea)(  
I do  
but you cant be with me all t)(e time

“But it’s-”  
You slap your hand over his mouth and shake your head furiously while your free hand scrambles for the pencil.  
dont you ever  
if this )(appening to me means t)(at it didnt )(appen to you or sis t)(en im )(appy.  
t)(en its better t)(is way  
You feel his mouth start to open, no doubt to argue with you. Your scowl cuts that off right away.  
and for the last time  
NOT  
YOUR  
FAULT  
!!!!!!!!!!!!  
He returns your scowl, and then licks your hand. You yank your hand away from the offending tongue and blow a raspberry. Then you wipe your hand on his shirt.  
And for the moment, everything is happy again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, after months (like, four months) I actually did that formatting thing! In any case, I should be posting the next chapter within a day or two.It's written down. Somewhere. I think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You should be able to figure it out, but Saito is the Ψiioniic, and Manny (Immanuel) is the Sufferer. Saito teaches the 2nd grade class that most of the kids are in, and Manny teaches kindergarten. 
> 
> Immanuels POV

“Shit Manny, I’ve taught kids with problems before, but I don’t know how to handle this!”  
Saito Captor furiously clicks around on his computer while you sip your milk.   
“You know I’d help if I could, but-”  
“But you have your own kids to deal with. Yeah yeah. You know you really don’t have to listen to me panic.”  
A chuckle is emitted from a nearby table and Saito whirls his head around in an attempt to catch the eavesdropper.   
“And deny myself the joy of listening to you complain?! Your existence is a constant reminder that I could have turned out worse.”   
A light smack on the back of your shoulder was the only repercussion that you receive. All the other teachers know how much the two of you banter. There used to be a betting pool at the annual ‘Holiday Party.’ (otherwise known as ‘You’ve all finished grading your kids tests and won't have to see them for two weeks lets all complain together about the administration being dumbasses’ gathering.) The betting pool was on if by the end of the night, the two of you would have kissed. The two of you will openly admit that you rigged the whole thing by checking the bets before getting drunk. You’re just that tight. The fact that you can commiserate about raising twin boys alone is an added bonus. Yeah, you technically have an upper hand on him since you can just have your eldest daughter watch all the little ones, but the fact that you have four kids to his two even out the playing field.   
“Oh wait! I found something!”   
You’re pulled out of your mulling over afterschool pick-up times by the joyous cry of the successful Saito.   
“Well, it’s not perfect. All I can find is articles about how to work with the kids that have selective mutism, so it isn’t quite right. But I mean, the basic principles should be about the same, right?”   
You shrug. “I guess. Wasn’t the principal supposed to send an e-mail out to you and the pull-out teachers about it?”  
A snort is accompanied by the sound of his laptop snapping closed. “Yeah. Sure. You know how The Doc is about tech. I’ll probably find that he mailed me a very detailed handbook on how to cope. But it won't get to me for another month because he sent it to my doorstep via trained scotty puppies.”   
The buzzer you'd placed in front of you at the beginning of recess begins to scream. A few well placed and even more well practiced smacks shuts it up.   
"Well whatever I’m gonna do Manny, better do it now. She comes back tomorrow. If I don’t do something about the class now, she’ll get run over by questions that she can't even answer tomorrow."   
"True enough. Maybe see if Eridan can talk to everyone for a minute. He was in the crash with her, wasn't he? Apparently they've been even more inseparable since then. He's probably got a good idea about how she likes to be treated now. So may as well let him tell the others."  
"Right. But I think I’ll just," Sai looks like it’s physically paining him not to crush down your idealism, "talk to him before I set him loose on the class. He’s always been a bit, over enthusiastic about things. I'd hate for his speech to go along the lines of, 'If anyone is mean to her, I'll steal all your pencils and put spiders in your desks.'” He cradles his head in his hands for a moment. “I wouldn't put it past him."  
You grumble something that you know Sai is just going to hear as 'you should have more faith in children blah blah future blah blah trust blah' and pack up the rest of your tupperware before flouncing out of the lounge.   
Apparently, Saito can't resist one final joke before heading back to the second grade class in question. "It’ll be fine honey. I’ll tell you how it went over dinner tonight!" You would almost swear you hear the same chuckle as previously, but then you turn the corner to go pick up your class from the noon-duties and your ears are filled with the sound of kids, sad to be herded back inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter gets into Feferis head and her dealing with what's happened.


End file.
